


Siren's Calling

by hirohamadugh



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Gen, Levi DOES siren sing out his feelings, Levi Whump, Levi can siren sing, Not Beta Read, Really much more of an introspection on levi, Siren Levi, True friend, Whump, also more on him taking care of his fish tank, animal caretaking woo!, like badly not beta read i wrote this at 5 am, the (true) friendship is implied as MC is not present in the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25066327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirohamadugh/pseuds/hirohamadugh
Summary: Levi is feeling down and distracts himself the only way he knows how: singing his feelings out and submerging underwater to be with his true fish friends.
Relationships: Leviathan & Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Siren's Calling

**Author's Note:**

> As someone who works in an aquarium, I really wanted to write about Levi taking care of his fishtank, as well as him with siren singing abilities, so here you get both!

“No, no, no, no, NOO!!!” Leviathan all but slammed the handheld controller onto his desk top as his monitor faded from red to black, lucky as ever that he had preemptively purchased a shock-protective hard shell case for it in case of emergency such as this one. It was a true and honest rage quit: through not one unwarranted, as he’d been stuck on this boss fight for over a day now, and no amount of going back and grinding seemed to prevent the victory from slipping right between his red-from-button-mashing fingertips in the very last seconds just as he had started to finally get his hopes up again. He was supposed to be _good_ at video games, for (anti)christ’s sake. Without that, what use was he? He was the gamer boy. Or, more accurately, the stupid, useless, no-good and poor excuse for a gamer that would certainly _never_ make it as a Deviltuber if he ever chose to stream because who would even want to watch someone fail over and over on a minor boss level that wasn’t even the apex of the game?

The Avatar of Envy shot up to his feet and shoved the gaming chair rolling across the linoleum tile of his bedroom, eventually catching and stopping on a fallen _Attack on Dwarf_ tapestry that had crumpled to the ground and he hadn’t bothered to fix. His fingertips curled so deeply into his palms out of frustration that he was going to leave indents on the skin, and he swiftly shut off the monitor that had been now displaying the game’s title screen once more, selection hovering over **Continue from last save?** tauntingly and spitting in his face. He couldn’t stand to see it, nor hear the adventurous fanfare of the opening screen any longer. It just wasn’t fair.

Stewing over to his large aquarium tank, the demon pressed his open palms against it, physically able to feel the heat of rage sear off his skin against the cool glass. He always did feel calmer around the water and the creatures that lurked within it. It was why he brought a slice of the ocean right to him here in his bedroom, despite all the work that went into maintaining aquaria.

Knitting his eyebrows downward in refocused determination, Levi channeled all his pent up energy into being productive, and pivoted to hastily head to the far right-most corner of his room, where a ladder that looked much like a fire escape hung against the wall and disappeared into a tube in the ceiling. See, each brother’s bedroom was actually two stories- it was where Mammon kept his car in his, or where Beel and Belphie had an annex couch for late night snacking/midday napping. For Levi, it was a bit more of a utility space than one of leisure; only part of it was floored, as his “upstairs” was the space above his large aquarium tank. Hoisting himself up the rungs, Levi entered his personal commissary area for his animals; it was much like a kitchen, but only for handling fish. He had an industrial freezer to hold his biweekly Akuzon shipments of smelt, and a door into a smaller refrigerator space that had to be walked through to get between it and the open air of his bedroom itself, where he now went to retrieve a pallet he’d pulled out to thaw in there earlier that morning. Grabbing one of the stainless steel buckets off his drying rack, Levi began to angrily sort through the shipment of fish, keeping an eye on the kg scale as he added handfuls of clean smelt into it, picking out and discarding any funky looking or disfigured feeder fish. He had the budget to feed his jacks and eels only the best of the best quality, and kept every intention to do so each feeding day. The demon also broke into a thawed pack of capelin for some of the bigger preds in his tank, and made sure to pill them with vitamins where necessary as he divided it out by each of his three moray’s needs. Snatching a pair of long metal tongs and tossing it into the bucket as well, he hoisted it up with a quiet grunt and headed out of the floored area onto one of the brightly lit metal catwalks over the tank itself, stopping in the middle and putting the three specialized diets out beside his foot as he grabbed fistfuls of smelt for his gen pop fish and threw them into the water below to scatter it. The crevalle jacks began to frantically splash at the surface in a brilliant display of flashing silver under the automatic lights as they ravaged, which always brought a small peaceful smile to Levi’s lips, and this was no exception, despite how poorly as he was still feeling. Something about doing the physical, monotonous work of caring for his Henries day in and day out was cathartic to him, and provided him the mental space to simply be by himself and think.

Heaving out a long sigh as he watched the pelagic fish gobble up the last few handfuls and dumping the remnants of the bucket outright, Levi set the metal container onto the catwalk with a _clink_ and let his shoulders fall in disappointment of reality settling over once more. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and tipped his face towards the blinding ceiling as the last of the splashing finally ceased, before hissing loudly just to vent the frustrations. He snapped back upright and opened his eyes once more, pupils growing a bit slitted from the stress seeping into the physical plane as he did so. Stomping down the catwalk very audibly, Levi kicked in the bright orange rubber ducky on a string he used as a target; it was an item he’d trained the morays to recognize as a denotation of feeding time. Sure enough, all three of them emerged from the depths and crevices of the coral reef balls he’d curated in the tank, appearing practically out of nowhere as they now circled near the surface around the rubber duck, hungry and anticipating their incoming meal. The demon boy dropped all the way down to laying on his chest over the edge of the catwalk, rolling up his jacket sleeve as he snatched up the tongs and began picking and hand feeding each eel its properly allotted diet and supplements. 

Eels were, admittedly, perhaps his favorite of all his pets. These three in particular were Henry 3.1, Henry 3.2, and Henry 3.3, and although he’d never let Henry 1.0 or Henry 2.0 hear him say it, he thought they were the perfect mix of his two beloved: part snake, part fish. Just like he was, except with a bit of sin sprinkled in, too. Henry 3.2 snapped its second inner jaw around the capelin he was offering it, and Levi couldn’t help but huff out a small laugh in amusement of it all, and how sad of a life he must live to compare himself to a goddamn fish. But as he watched them swim about freely, peacefully returning to their nooks and crannies of the artificial reef, he couldn’t help but see himself in the shut-in behavior. Yet they didn’t have any shame in the lives they led, unlike he did. He could perhaps go for learning a thing or two, if he was even worthy enough to do so.

He wanted to disappear, for a bit. Escape it all, escape his looming lack of self worth, to hide like a coward from all the expectations and responsibilities and fears that weighed on his chest and collapsed it inward on itself, and thus he did so the only way he knew how.

Standing and shredding the jacket off his shoulders, letting it fall in a heap onto the metal grate around his feet, Levi dove into the tank.

His momentum only carried him halfway down to the bottom, but as a being who had no need to hold his breath in his own realm, there was no air in his lungs to keep him buoyant and stop him from slowly sinking, either. He could feel the staghorn horns protruding openly from atop his head, as well as the scaly and serpentine tail erupt from the skin on his lower back as his demonic outfit grew waterlogged, but all it did was bring him an odd sensation of peace. He watched as the fish that had scattered from his disruptive water entry began to swim in the water column above him once again as he sank deeper and deeper, the last remnants of bubbles slipping from his lips as he watched them ascend to the surface and disappear altogether. His third (and clear) eyelid allowed him to see crystal clearly underwater, and was an aspect of his reptilian morphology he often took for granted, as without it, he couldn’t have these moments of sitting on the substrate at the bottom of his tank alone, with only the fish to keep him company. 

Flicking his tail around his waist and in front of him, he just relished in the feeling of submersion, of how silent things were underwater, of how comforting it felt to finally allow all those pressures to feel as if they were physically consuming him in cold and dark drowning. Not that he could drown even if he tried, but the feeling of displaced peace settled nonetheless.

Here he felt he could actually allow himself to think these thoughts that were otherwise discarded as taboo. No one could hear him, no one could intrude upon him, it was just he and his mind alone, 15 feet under, and he could finally for once be honest. Honest in feeling as if he deserved the damnation he got. Honest in that he _never_ felt like he was respected or deserved the 3rd titicular spot amongst his brothers. Honest that despite being surrounded by family and other lesser demons daily at the house and at RAD, he’d never felt more alienated and alone in his multiple-eon long life. Honest that he feared he’d never find a true friend like the third lord did in Henry, and he’d forever be trapped in a life of loneliness and daydreaming of fictional characters that would never see the real light of day. Honest that he may never find anything that he really is the best in, and that there will always be someone better and brighter than him in every endeavor he may undertake, and gaming was clearly included in that, based on this afternoon’s performance. 

As freeing as it was to finally allow himself to terrifyingly indulge in all these thoughts that always loomed in the back of his mind, it was suffocating as well. He suddenly felt his world closing in onto him and needed to get back on dry land, _now._ He couldn’t afford to feel allowed to think these things, to admit them. It was too much, it was all too much, and he was far from the right headspace to tackle them now. 

Leviathan shot back to the surface at breakneck speed, gasping for air once he broke the surface even though he had no struggles to breathe underwater and therefore no real reason to. All he could taste was salt that dribbled over his lips, and whether it was from the tank water or the tears, he didn’t know. At some point the two became one, and indiscernible from each other, and it wouldn’t be amiss of the demon to cry a literal ocean right now as everything collapsed around him all at once. Letting out a pained hiss despite having no physical ailments, Levi desperately grabbed the edge of the nearest catwalk and hoisted himself upon it, scaly and dripping tail flopping haphazardly as he threw himself into a sit. He choked out a bit of trapped water in a strangled sob, clawing at his throat to rid himself of the feeling. He would never be worth something. He would never find a true friend. He would just rot, alone, in the depths of hell, holed up in his room forever desperately projecting upon two-dimensional characters that he only dared to so much as _dream_ having a smidgeon of their happiness, their adventure, their worth. Maybe _he_ wanted to be the main character, for once, even if he’d never deserve such a thing.

Nearly instinctively, as his hands began to grip the metal grate to the point of white knuckles, he opened his mouth. No one could hear him anyways, so there was no need to keep it inside of him.

Just as the myths of sirens had to come from somewhere, Leviathan took in a heavy inhale, knowing his alluring calls would never be answered, because no matter what, he would never be anything more than a stupid wretched otaku who deserved nothing but loneliness and self-imprisionment.

And so he began to sing.

_“I am tired of growing older, I’m getting weaker every day…”_

He allowed himself to wish, just this once, that someone was listening to his cries for help. That someone, by some miracle, would come into his life, and show him true, genuine friendship.

 _“I am drowning! And you are stealing every breath, so take me away and just...”_ He choked over his own enchanted voice, feeling the demonic aura burning aglow within his chest as his haunting notes echoed around the air above the tank, even making the water ripple from the deep-running vibrations as he screamed out in begging agony.

 _“Lay down here! Beside me in the shallow water, beside me where the sun is shining on us still,”_ He curled forward, doubled over on the self inflicted emotional pain and scrambled to his knees to avoid falling in again. He shoved the heel of his hand into his eyes to roughly try and keep the tears from continuing to spill out and repeated his metaphorical plea to someone who didn’t even exist, who would never exist, because no one would ever take the time to truly understand him. _“Lay down here, beside me in the hallowed water,”_ Levi rose to his feet, slicking his wet hair back and out of his face as all of the tank's inhabitants began to congregate at the epicenter of his voice, its enticing effects not lost on them, at least. _“Beside me where the silver lining stays until,”_

Clenching his fists and screwing his now fully-serpentine eyes shut, Levi absolutely wailed in his strife, _“The siren’s calling!”_ , and very ironically, his fanatical and sinfully full of power song was brought to an abrupt halt as his D.D.D. rang in the distance. Someone was calling the siren, not the other way around. Dropping the notes suddenly, his glowing aura dimmed away and the fish bait ball beneath him scattered, no longer under the effects of his tempting allure anymore. Furious that his moment of venting was interrupted, Leviathan slithered back to the commissary to see it was Lucifer calling, and violently shut off the ringer before burying his face into his hands and choking out a sob, finally cracking and crumbling until he was nothing for a pitiful excuse for a demon balled up on his fishy kitchen tile, alone.

* * *

  
  


“Tch,” Lucifer scoffed upon the sound of Levi’s voicemail hitting his ears, denoting the rejected call. He shuffled the paperwork he was holding in his hands and dropped the phone back onto his desk, making a small scribbled note to discuss these matters with him at the table tonight at dinner.

Barbatos slid a cup of tea into the eldest’s line of vision, a polite smile on the servant’s face as he did so. “Something wrong, Lucifer?” He asked, surely as a pleasantry, but the dark haired Avatar of Pride found himself sighing and sharing the recent events with him anyways.

“Yes,” he admitted, accepting the tea- Earl Grey, if his nose was correct (and it _always_ was). “I’ve been trying to tell my brothers that the second human exchange student will be arriving tomorrow, yet none of them seem to be so much as bothered to respond when I call for them.”

“Certainly they will find out soon enough either way, hm?” Barbatos enlightened him, which only elicited a small nod from Lucifer, who took a sip of the tea before returning it to the small decorative plate and thumbing over the seemingly-normal human’s files once more. 

“Yes,” he agreed, reading their name over again in his head even though he’d done so ten thousand times already. “I suppose they will.”

**Author's Note:**

> the song levi was singing was Sirens by Cher Lloyd, not a creation of mine!! thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
